Silent
by lookingforthestars
Summary: Paige comes back from Tahoe and runs straight into a wall of all the things that she and Walter still aren't willing to say out loud.
1. Home

**I know, I should be posting the next chapter to "Renewed." I promise it's coming in a few days! That story is all planned out, at least. But the writer's muse is fickle and I had this idea rattling in my head. I hope you're not sick of post-finale fics yet. This will only be two to three chapters. Review if you're into it! Or if you aren't and want to give me feedback. I'm always down for that too. :)**

"I can't believe you chose Tim."

For a split second, Paige was sure the voice had come from inside her mind. She wasn't sure why she'd be hallucinating Toby's voice, exactly. If anything, she had expected the nagging feeling in her subconscious to materialize as Walter, or maybe Ralph. Possibly another, more clear-minded version of herself.

The fact that she wasn't fazed by the possibility of experiencing hallucinations was a terrifying thought in itself. It had clearly been a stressful few weeks.

She heard the squeak of an office chair, and glanced around from her desk to see the real Toby with his feet propped up on his workstation, staring at her with the closest expression to disapproval that she'd ever seen him muster. Paige expected him to still be passed out, sleeping off a massive three-day bender. She was pleasantly surprised to see him upright, or at least she was until his words registered in her brain.

"Chose Tim for what?"

Toby scoffed. "Don't play dumb, Dineen."

Paige glanced at the clock. It was eight a.m. and officially too early for one of Toby's psychological experiments or acting practices, whichever this was. She shook her head to signal that she wasn't in the mood and picked up her coffee mug from her desk, moving toward the machine to brew a pot.

"It doesn't take a genius behaviorist to know that you don't have the same feelings for Tim that you do for Walter." The voice was closer now, and Paige jumped as she realized that the shrink had abandoned his desk and was following her to the other side of the garage. "I know our resident genius can be a bit difficult, but I always thought that if he told you the truth, you'd give him a chance—."

The liaison stopped in her tracks and turned abruptly to face him. He had been walking too closely behind her and stumbled back to avoid bumping into her. "It's early, Toby, and I've had a weird couple of days and I don't know what the hell you're talking about right now."

Toby crinkled his forehead, suddenly seeming as baffled as Paige had been when he started talking. "Did you see Walter this weekend?" he said slowly, annunciating the words as if he was afraid she wouldn't understand them.

She stared at him blankly. Perhaps if she was a genius, she could piece together the scattered clues Toby was feeding her, but in her anxious and uncaffeinated state, he might as well have been speaking another language. "No, why would I? You know I was in Tahoe this weekend."

Toby's eyebrows arched in surprise. Maybe he _was_ still drunk. Paige took the remaining five steps to the coffee pot and reached into the cabinets below, searching for a clean filter.

"Son of a…" she heard him mutter, and when she reemerged with the supplies she needed, she realized that Toby was still watching her intently. He tilted his hat up at an angle and ran one hand through his mussed hair. "Walt came storming back into the garage yesterday, looking completely crushed. I assumed you'd told him that you were with Tim now."

Despite Paige's determination to ignore Toby's directionless rambling, the genuine concern in his voice stopped her. She dropped the bag of coffee and the filter on top of the counter and rested her hand next to them, meeting his gaze. "What do you mean storming back? From where?" The shrink suddenly went quiet, his eyes widening a little. If Toby had a tell, that was surely it. Paige forgot all about the activity she'd been engaged in and advanced toward him, glaring at him in the way that the geniuses all feared because they knew they were in trouble. "Toby, why did you assume that I had seen Walter this weekend?"

"I shouldn't say anything."

"That's never stopped you before," Paige snapped as she stepped toe-to-toe with him, using her height to her advantage. "Why would you think that I had seen Walter?"

Toby slumped a bit in her presence. No one was more frightening than an angry mother; Paige didn't pull that card often, but she had no interest in listening to the psychologist's riddles. She'd clearly missed something important, and although Walter was the last person she wanted to think about right now, Paige sensed it wasn't minor enough to brush aside.

"Because he went after you," Toby admitted, exhaling like he'd been holding his breath. It wasn't the answer she was expecting, and Paige felt a little unsteady, as if the wind had been knocked out of her.

"To Tahoe?" That was all she was capable of asking as far too many questions flooded her mind at once and fought for dominance.

He nodded.

"Why?"

"You know why."

Toby waited patiently for the realization to dawn on her, but she shook her head defiantly. Whatever Walter's reasons for coming after her, she couldn't allow herself to read into them. She'd done it too many times before, and she would be damned if she made the same mistake again. "No, Toby."

"He chased you, Paige. He's…" The psychologist pressed his lips together. "Walt should be the one to tell you. Please just go talk to him."

* * *

Paige's hand was shaking as she lifted it up to knock on the door of the loft. A substantial part of her voted to walk away, chalk Toby's story up to a drunken misunderstanding and leave everything as it was.

But that wasn't enough.

She wondered how she kept ending up here. At his door, holding her breath, wondering if this time was going to be different somehow. Inevitably, everything that she and Walter were leaving unsaid stayed unsaid, and Paige would tell herself they had plenty of time. That was illogical, of course, considering the danger of their profession. But even though they'd always managed to survive, she had a hunch she was close to her breaking point anyway. Paige had been patient, but even her patience had its limits.

Walter glanced up from his laptop as she pushed open the door. He blinked a few times, seeming a little dazed, and Paige recognized that as a sign that he had been deeply engrossed in his work. "If you're in the middle of something—."

"No, uh, come in," Walter mumbled, shutting the computer and stretching out in his chair. He rubbed his face with his left palm. "What time is it?"

"Close to nine. It's just me and Toby here so far." When Walter moved his hand, Paige was startled to see the dark purple circles under his eyes. "When was the last time you slept?"

He stayed silent for a moment as he stared at the floor, deep in thought, but he ignored her question and asked, "How was your trip?"

"Fine. It was…" Paige wondered if she should elaborate. She found herself searching his expression, his voice for some hint of…jealousy? She didn't know, exactly, but she knew that she had to stop. If she kept analyzing him, the liaison was bound to imagine some signal that wasn't really there. "Fine." Paige paused, her breath catching slightly as she asked, "What about yours?"

Walter's head snapped up, a hint of panic in his eyes. She had his full attention now, and Paige felt almost guilty for ambushing him but she could safely bet that he wasn't planning to tell her on his own.

"Toby?" he asked simply.

"Yeah."

The genius dropped his elbows onto his legs, linking his fingers together behind his neck, and sighed. "I'd hoped that perhaps he was too inebriated to remember."

Paige's heart was beating erratically and for a second she felt like she might be having a cardiac event. She inhaled to calm herself. "So Toby was telling the truth? You really went to Tahoe?"

"Not…all the way to Tahoe. Eighty miles. Approximately." Walter's focus was still trained on the floor, and as much as Paige wished that he would look at her, she knew it might be impossible to keep her head if he did. "I know you're going to ask me why, Paige, but I'd really prefer if you didn't. The reasons are no longer important."

"They are to me."

"Paige."

"Walter," she answered firmly, undeterred by the warning he'd infused into her name. After a short deliberation, she knelt down in front of the genius, tilting her head until she could see his face. He brought his hands forward to rest between his knees and averted his eyes again, but Paige didn't take it personally. It was unlikely he would be comfortable having this conversation in any form. "You know that I can't let this go."

He swallowed, shifting his weight slightly in his chair. "I'm asking you to."

"Were you…" She hesitated, searching for neutral words that Walter might respond to a little more readily. "Were you coming to talk to me?"

Silence.

Paige let out a rough breath. "I know you have a hard time expressing yourself, Walter, but I need you to say something." He pulled back to put more space between them, leading Paige to realize that she'd been subconsciously leaning toward him. "I just…I need you to explain what's going on, because I don't understand."

There was an excruciatingly long pause before Walter cleared his throat and said, "I can't."

She could hear the insecurity in his tone and shook her head sympathetically. "Yes, you can." Paige wasn't sure if it was the right move, but she couldn't resist reaching up and resting her hand on his knee, taking note of how tense his body was under her fingers. "I'm right here, I'm listening. Just take your time."

"No, I mean…" Walter's eyes flashed to hers briefly, and she was taken back a little by how dark they were. "I can't."

 _Oh._ The liaison hoped he couldn't see her crumbling, but she was sure she wasn't hiding her reaction very well. Whatever he'd come to Tahoe to say, that moment was long gone and he had no intention of sharing it with her now.

She just kept ending up here, didn't she? At square one, only more disappointed each time.

"I can't risk Scorpion," Paige heard him say, forcing her out of her thoughts. "You know that I'm prone to…rash decisions. But the team has to come first. Our work is too important."

She felt him move and realized, belatedly, that her hand was still on his knee. She dropped it to her side, flexing her fingers. No need to make this harder on herself than it already was.

"I'm sorry." He sounded so sincere, just like he'd been on that weather balloon a year ago. The locations and circumstances changed—hell, they'd changed—but their conversation remained the same.

"Don't be," Paige muttered as she straightened up, smoothing out her skirt. Common sense told her to shut up and exit gracefully, but she couldn't seem to hold her tongue as the rest spilled out. "The team is bigger than all of us and I learned a long time ago that I'd never be able to compete with that. And if I thought anything else, well…" She flashed a smile that must have looked even emptier than it felt. "I guess that's on me."

The liaison turned on her heel, walking quickly toward the door but trying not to look like she was running. Her palm was already on the knob when the sound of her name stopped her.

"I, uh…" She tensed at the sadness in Walter's voice, but she managed not to turn around, reminding herself that she was likely just imagining it. "I hope you had a good weekend, Paige."

She nodded once and left the loft.


	2. Honesty

**True story, I really intended to update "Renewed" before this but the ideas were just flowing much more freely for this story. By this weekend, I promise. Anyway, the reviews were amazing, and I loved hearing from you guys. Your feedback makes this whole experience a million times better. Thank you!**

Paige heard rustling from the kitchen and glanced up to see Toby walking through the doorway with a blueberry bagel in one hand and a soda in the other. The day had come and gone uneventfully, and Walter was attending a mechanics lecture while Cabe, Sylvester, and Ralph were participating in a rousing night of ice cream and miniature golf. She wasn't sure why her son and Sly were so fond of the game when they just used physics to get holes-in-one, which took away the excitement as far as she was concerned.

But she was surprised to see Toby still in the garage while she stayed late to finish up paperwork. She'd been caught off guard by his presence early that morning too. Paige watched as he plopped down in his desk chair and kicked off his shoes before a thought dawned on her. "Are you staying here?"

Toby met her questioning stare and shrugged nonchalantly as he popped the tab on his can. "For a few days."

"Is there something wrong with your apartment?"

"Yeah." He took a long swig and crushed the soda down on his desk. "Happy's stuff is everywhere."

Paige squinted. "Her stuff is everywhere here, too."

He shrugged again. "It's different. The garage is neutral territory. And she's not here."

Happy had been conspicuously absent that day, thought she'd at least sent a text to Cabe confirming that she was alive. Unlike Walter, Toby loved to talk about his feelings, and Paige was sure that not being able to communicate openly with the mechanic was excruciating. "You still haven't heard from her?"

Toby sighed and shook his head. "I'm trying to give her space. Which is a hoot, because she's the one who dropped a bomb on me, for once." He slouched back in his chair, shooting Paige a resigned look. "But I figure maybe I can get a chance to be the stable one while she screws up. It'll be a nice change of pace for us."

Paige felt a pang of guilt as the shrink seemed to withdraw into himself for a moment. "I'm sorry, Toby."

"It's no one's fault."

"No, that's not what I meant." The liaison recalled how demanding she had been with him that morning, snapping at him for answers and not thinking twice about the hellish weekend he'd probably endured. "I was so wrapped up in my own problems and I…I was a terrible friend. I'm sorry that I didn't check on you as soon as I got back."

Toby offered her a crooked smile. "Thanks." He hesitated for a second before straightening up in his seat and clasping his hands in front of him. "But other people's problems are a heck of a lot easier to handle right now, so what's the deal with Walt? I hardly saw him today."

"I think he stayed up in the loft, mostly." The psychologist arched his eyebrow, waiting for more information, but Paige wasn't sure if she wanted to relive that particular brand of heartache. "Do you have any tequila left?"

"It went that well, did it?"

Paige's defeated expression answered that question thoroughly enough, and Toby wordlessly reached into his drawer and pulled out the half-empty bottle along with two glasses. He pushed off in his rolling chair toward her desk and skidded to a stop next to her, pouring out a shot of the liquid and handing it to her. She cracked a smile and downed it.

"Okay." She shook her head as the liquor burned a path down her throat. Paige didn't drink often, but she held her liquor well and one or two shots was unlikely to impact her too drastically. And if it did, well, she could stand to get out of her own head for a while. "Talking to Walter went…exactly the way I should have expected it to go."

Toby narrowed his eyes. "Let me guess, he wouldn't tell why he followed you to Tahoe."

"Not all the way to Tahoe. Eighty miles," she repeated the genius's words, pointing her index finger for emphasis. "And no, he wouldn't tell me why. He wouldn't tell me anything."

Toby exhaled loudly, the way he always did when he was frustrated with his friend's emotional dysfunction. She heard that sound often when Walter spoke back to clients on cases, when he instituted petty rules for the team, and especially when he expressed disapproval of Happy and Toby's relationship. Paige even found herself emitting a similar noise sometimes.

"I can't keep doing this," she continued, leaning her elbow on her desk and resting the side of her head against her outstretched palm. "It's not that I don't think he's worth waiting for, but…god, it hurts, Toby. Every time he pulls me in and then disappears, I feel it. I don't know why I keep believing that something's going to change. You should have seen him this morning. I practically begged him to say something and…" Paige dragged her hand through her hair. "He made it pretty clear he had nothing to say."

The shrink slammed his glass down on her desk, startling her. "Well, I take issue with that, because he had plenty to say to me." Paige noticed a fire in his eyes, and she had the odd thought that she was glad her romantic misadventure could provide some distraction from his own pain. "I really thought that Walter should be the one to say this, but clearly he's not going to, so I will. He _loves_ you, Paige. Like, he's in love with you. I may have been plastered, but I sure as hell remember that. I've never heard those words leave his mouth before."

The liaison felt a sudden rush of heat through her body, and she wasn't sure if it was from the alcohol or Toby's revelation. She'd allowed herself to consider that possibility, occasionally. The things he had done for her and Ralph…he had very nearly given his life for theirs more than once.

But there was still a line that Walter wouldn't cross—the line between friends and something more. Now and then the line became blurred, but inevitably the genius would step back and redraw it, thicker than before.

"And they probably never will again."

The shrink clicked his tongue sympathetically. "Paige…"

"I love him, Toby. I'm sure you've been able to tell that for a long time." Paige glanced up at him expectantly, and he gave her a small nod of affirmation. "But it's not enough. It's clearly not enough for him to risk everything he's built. And it's not enough for me to keep putting my life on hold."

"You know how Walt is with his emotions…"

"It's not about that," she said abruptly, causing him to drop the rest of his thought. "Whatever he feels, or says…the truth is that Walter doesn't want this. That was his decision, and if his mind hasn't changed after two years, I don't expect it to."

A weight pressed on Paige's chest as the statement crushed into her. She'd never really admitted it to herself before. Certainly not out loud. And now she knew why, because it felt terrible.

Why had she let things get so far? Walter was a detractor of romantic love long before he met her, and even if he was capable of a great deal more emotion than he realized, believing that she might be the exception to one of his most deeply-held beliefs was arrogant, at best.

"He's not going to find anyone else like you," Toby said softly, chewing on the inside of his bottom lip in deep thought. "The way he connects with you, that's once in a lifetime for someone like him. And you, Paige, do you think there's anyone else who would risk everything for you, who loves Ralph the way he does—."

"You think I haven't thought about that?" she snapped, noting the psychologist's wide eyes and deciding to blame the tequila for her shortened fuse though, in reality, her emotions already had her plenty on edge. "Of course I've wondered what it would be like for the three of us. But it's not up to me. There's nothing that I can do if he doesn't want it too. He pushed me out the door to Lake Tahoe and he pushed me out the door this morning and that's all he's going to keep doing, over and over again, forever."

Toby was quiet for a long time after that, and Paige figured she'd finally succeeded in stumping him. She was prepared to drain the rest of her glass and then return to her paperwork, a little less focused but competent enough to work, when he spoke up again.

"Have you ever said any of this to Walter?"

She stared at him blankly, taken back by the question. "Of course I haven't. What purpose would it serve, other than to make working together even more awkward?"

"Maybe you've always held back your feelings because Walter did. But," he considered his next words carefully, "you shouldn't, Paige. It's hurting you to keep this all locked up. And if you tell him the truth, and he still decides to be a stubborn ass and deny himself the chance to be with you, then…fine. Screw him. But at least you won't have to wonder what if. You wouldn't be doing it for him, you'd be…doing it for yourself."

Paige let her head fall into her hands. It was spinning a little. She'd been perfectly honest with Walter about her feelings, hadn't she? She initiated their first (and second kiss), she'd reached out for his hand at the beach, she…was full of it. Suddenly all the liaison could see was the slew of times she alluded to her feelings in vague terms or flat-out lied about how Walter's actions affected her. Jealousy-laced barbs at Linda, insistence that she didn't want to jeopardize the team, stolen glances that she told herself meant nothing.

"Crap."

Toby smirked and opened his mouth to respond when they were both distracted by the vibration of her cell phone. She saw Tim's name on the caller ID and ignored the shrink's curious stare as she pushed up from her chair and walked with her phone to the back of the garage.

"Hey," Paige said once the line connected. "Good timing."

He didn't ask. "Glad I could help. I didn't get a call, so I assume there were no cases?"

"No, uh, just a lot of the team working on…things I don't understand."

"Gotcha," he chuckled, before his voice took a more serious turn. "Look, you know why I'm calling, Paige. I wanted to see how you're holding up. If you talked to him."

She felt that familiar heat prickling at the surface of her skin again. No matter where she turned today, everyone wanted to talk about the infuriating genius. He wasn't even there and she was still being haunted by his ghost.

"Sort of." Paige shook her head even though Tim couldn't see her and kicked her foot lightly against the bottom of a row of cabinets. "We don't need to talk about that. It's not important."

The trainee laughed lightly, and Paige could easily picture the self-satisfied smirk on his face. "I'm pretty sure it's important. You said his name in your sleep."

Paige groaned. She was full-on blushing now, she was sure of it. "Please don't remind me."

It had been one of her more mortifying date experiences. She and Tim crashed in separate beds when they first arrived at Lake Tahoe, exhausted by the lengthy drive. Paige remembered very little of the night, but over breakfast Tim had casually revealed that she was repeating a certain other man's name in her dreams. Her first instinct was to smooth it over, but he knew the truth, and she was shocked by how calm and unfazed he'd seemed.

The liaison leaned forward on the counter, balancing the phone between her neck and shoulder as she stretched out her arms in front of her. "Are you coming in tomorrow?" she asked to change the subject.

"Nope. Back-to-back physical exams. Come nightfall, I'll either be cleared for duty or dead." Tim cleared his throat, and she knew instinctively that she hadn't managed to sway his focus. "Did you tell Walter that we're not…you know…together?"

Paige pushed down the lump in her throat. "I didn't really tell him about the trip. We, uh…we kind of avoided a lot of topics, actually."

"Well, if it's still weird between you two the next time I come to the garage, I'm locking you in a room together. You need to hash some stuff out."

The liaison laughed. It was surprising, how comforted she was by Tim's voice. Paige felt so secure with him; she had since they met. But it wasn't the real thing, and his lack of jealousy over her feelings for Walter proved that conclusion was mutual.

"I don't understand how you're so great."

"Neither do I," he said without a trace of irony. "But it's for precisely that reason that I am going to meet another gorgeous woman and forget about you completely."

She grinned. Perhaps, in a perfect world, the man who made her laugh and the man she loved would be the same person. And yet it was Walter, the world's least funny person—at least intentionally—who had managed to throw her for a loop.

"I hope so," she said sincerely. "And I'm, uh…I'm sorry for the way this all worked out."

Tim sighed on the other end. "Paige, I've been in love before. It doesn't always make sense. And it's sure as hell not always convenient. But you have to face it, because ignoring it like you guys have been doing…well, clearly it's not working out as you planned."


	3. Hope

**This is the last chapter. Things have been quite hectic lately so I wanted to wrap this up and give Waige some closure haha. As much as I enjoy writing for Walter, I kept this all in Paige's POV because most of the post-finale fics didn't focus as much on her thoughts. Thank you, as always, for reading, and please review if you get a chance. :)**

This time was going to be different.

It might all go up in flames, but it would be different. Because Toby was right—Paige deserved some of the blame for the stalemate she and Walter had settled into. Perhaps she had been afraid that if she pushed him, he'd retreat from her for good. Or that if she asked him for the truth, she wouldn't like the answer she received.

But she was so tired. The idea of spending one more day like this—especially after everything Toby had let slip—seemed unbearable.

If Walter wasn't going to come to her, then she was finally prepared to burn it all to the ground.

The genius stopped abruptly when he pushed through the door to the loft, noticing her seated in the same rolling chair he'd occupied during their conversation that morning. Paige had been distracted by her thoughts and jumped too. He was returning from his lecture well after eleven p.m., but she barely noticed the time. She wasn't even entirely sure how long she had been sitting there.

"What are you doing here?" he asked bluntly. Paige raised her eyebrow and Walter backtracked, shaking his head. "I meant, uh, sorry. Is everything okay?"

"Yes." The liaison took a deep breath. It was now or never. "And…no? There's something I really need to say."

Walter looked uneasy, but he nodded for her to continue. He remained standing by the doorway, still clutching his laptop case in his hands, and Paige couldn't relax when it seemed like he was seconds away from bolting back out the door. She gripped the armrests of the chair and pushed herself up, taking a solitary step forward but maintaining most of the distance between them. At least it felt more like they were on even ground now.

"You told me not to ask why you came to Tahoe, and I won't," Paige said evenly, inhaling deep breaths surreptitiously to keep her voice from giving out on her. "But I will tell you why I went to Tahoe. After this, I'm…I'm done. But if I don't say it, it's always going to weigh on me."

Walter didn't respond, but he also didn't move or interrupt her. The intensity in his eyes had the strange, simultaneous effect of terrifying her and giving her confidence in her next words.

"I've been frustrated with you for not accepting your feelings, Walter, but the truth is that I haven't really been owning mine either."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced down at the floor. "Paige, you don't have to—."

"I love you," Paige blurted out, gasping quietly as all of the oxygen in her body rushed out at once. She noticed, in her peripheral vision, that Walter's eyes had widened substantially, but she purposefully avoided studying his expression, knowing that she would never be able to get through this without doing something stupid, like running out of the loft or running toward Walter and kissing him. "Oh god, okay. I've said a lot of things to you about what I want, and I accept now that maybe not all of those were the truth. I want Scorpion to work. I want to save the world, and I want a safe place where my son can be himself and do amazing things. But along with all of that, Walter, I want you. I know that thought is scary. And yeah, there would be times when I would be mad at you, and times when it would be hard and we wouldn't know to do, and I don't care." She sucked in another breath to keep herself from fainting as the words she'd suppressed for years barreled out of her mouth full force. "I might really regret saying all of this in the morning, but it's the truth and I needed to tell you. No matter what happens, Walter, I'm still your friend. My job here and your relationship with Ralph will be unaffected. But everything else…the looks, and the jealousy, getting close to me and then disappearing…that will all end here. Today."

With the entire bloody truth finally out, Paige decided to brave it and lifted her eyes to meet his. She'd been in more life-or-death situations than most people could ever dream of encountering, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins right now was unlike anything she had ever experienced. The smallest movement from him, the lightest touch, was liable to make her unravel completely.

But Walter didn't move. He stared at her, dumbstruck, and it occurred to Paige that she hadn't thought this part out. This was a significant amount of information to process for him…for her too, she found, as the full import of her confession washed over her and she realized just how much she'd been lying to herself.

There were many things Paige was tempted to do in that moment, and none of them involved leaving that loft. But Walter was who he was, and part of respecting that meant she needed to allow him to deal with this in his own way.

"I'll leave you alone to think," she said before circling around an unresponsive Walter and exiting his office. Part of her wished that he would stop her, but even when he didn't, Paige was astonished at the sense of relief that flooded her.

* * *

Paige stared blankly at the stack of papers in her "incoming" pile. She'd managed to sleep a few hours last night, after half-successfully distracting herself with a dozen recipes, books, crossword puzzles, and movies. With Ralph at a sleepover, her apartment was far too quiet, and she had finally given up, showered, and returned to the garage somewhere around seven in the morning. Scorpion's files often required her full attention and Paige was eager to find something to throw herself into. She had expected to see Toby on her arrival, but he and his hat were nowhere to be found, and the liaison felt a spark of hope that he might have at least felt capable of going back to his apartment. Paige wondered if a certain mechanic would find her way there, too.

She was three cups of coffee and forty lines into another damage assessment for the Chernobyl site when a voice she hadn't expected to hear for several more hours came from the bottom of the stairs.

"Thank you," was the first thing Walter said, and Paige fought the inappropriate urge to laugh because even when he did remember to say thank you, it was typically as an afterthought and certainly not a priority in the conversation. "For, uh, giving me time to think."

The genius was still standing behind her, and Paige nodded in acknowledgement but couldn't quite bring herself to turn around yet. She took another sip from her mug, grateful to have something to do with her hands.

"Cabe called me about a case," Walter offered next, after a moment of quiet. Paige scrunched her forehead. She certainly hadn't gotten enough sleep to manage another off-the-rails adventure, which was what far too many of Scorpion's "mundane" cases transformed into.

"Already? It's barely light out," she grumbled.

"What? No." The voice was much closer now, and Paige glanced up from her desk to see Walter standing over her. His dark circles from yesterday were even more pronounced, and she had a hunch he'd rested about as much, if not less, than she had. "I meant…that night. Cabe called me about a case. That's why I only drove eighty miles."

A bolt of electricity shot through Paige, making her feel about a hundred times more awake. She knew the likelihood that Walter was going to pretend their conversation from last night had never happened, and that would have been her answer. But the genius settled to a stop in front of her desk, his fingertips tapping nervously on the dark wood as he alternated between looking at her and down at his hands, and she knew this time really was going to be different.

"It was a simple job. Any computer geek could have managed it, probably. But I, uh…I went anyway." Walter pressed his lips together, contemplating his next words. "It seemed like…well, maybe you would call it a sign. A reminder of my, um, my responsibility to Scorpion. A confirmation of what I've always believed."

"Which is?" she prompted when he trailed off.

"That I can't give you what you need while also operating Scorpion."

He said it so simply, so matter-of-factly that it took a minute to sink in, but when it did, Paige's breath caught in her throat. "No one's asking you to choose," she managed finally.

Walter exhaled loudly and gripped the edge of her desk with both palms. "How can I not, Paige? I've given everything that I have to make this company successful. It's been my sole focus for years, and without Megan…" She heard the hitch in his voice as the mention of his sister's name sent a painful rush through both of them. "It's all I have left. When the team is needed, I'm always going to respond. I don't know how not to."

This was the beginning and end of a conversation they'd had many times. Paige didn't really care to hear the last part again—the part in which she was reminded that the needs of the team made any relationship between them an impossibility.

"But you deserve that same level of commitment." Her attention snapped back to him, her desk shifting slightly as he leaned his weight into it. His eyes were fully on her now, a current of seriousness in them that sent a shiver down her spine. That part was new. "And I want to give that to you. I just don't know if it's possible."

Paige's mouth was dry. She wanted to respond, to encourage him, to question him, but she was practically immobile and had an inkling as to what Walter had been feeling the night before.

"I don't prioritize the team over you, Paige," he said earnestly, his furrowed eyebrows hinting at the depth of his concentration. "I know it may appear that way, but…I want both. And I'm well aware of how selfish that is. The popular notion of 'having it all' is, at its core, unsustainable. A person can devote the majority of their time to their career, or to their relationships. But one or the either will suffer. And I don't intend to put you through that kind of stress just because of…because of how I feel."

Paige's legs were numb as she pushed back in her chair and stood up. Her body was on overload with the need to touch him, but she was sure she would lose all control if she did and they needed to sort things out before she could let herself go like that.

"There's just one thing that you're forgetting," she offered, leaning forward until she was squarely across from Walter. There was something challenging about the way they were looking at each other, but neither backed down. "I'm a part of Scorpion. And it can never mean as much to anyone as it does to you, but I do care about this team. You act like I would be…sitting at home, waiting for you to come back from a mission, and that's absurd, Walter. I'm always right there with you. And it could be like that in every aspect of the company. You said that you couldn't jeopardize the goals that you'd set." A twinge of guilt colored his features as she recalled the conversation they'd had shortly before she left for Lake Tahoe. "But you and I could be working toward those goals together. If that was what you wanted. Because…it's what I want."

It felt _good_ to tell the truth. To reveal everything she felt, without reservation. Paige could see that Walter was engrossed in thought, but his face betrayed nothing about what was going on in his mind. It could have been a minute or ten minutes or an hour, she had no idea, until Walter reached into his back pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

Paige blinked as she took the note, holding it up with her fingers and staring at it. "What is this?"

Walter cleared his throat. "I wrote it at a rest stop. In case I, um, got to Tahoe and lost my nerve." When she continued to stare at him blankly, he motioned with his hand and said, "Read it and you'll understand."

She opened the paper and nearly dropped it when she saw the writing inside. _I love you._

"You wrote this on your way to Tahoe?" Paige breathed, her voice not quite strong enough for anything else. If he'd said it now, she might have worried that he thought it was the expected response to her declaration. But she read in his expression that he was telling the truth about this.

Walter nodded. "Yeah. That's…that's why I went after you. And I'm assuming that based on what you told me last night, you and Tim are not together?" He sounded cautiously optimistic, and the liaison couldn't help but crack a small smile.

She shook her head. "No. We're not."

"Okay." The genius swallowed, the darkness in his eyes beginning to lighten. "Are you sure this is what you want? Because, Paige, I need you to be sure. I want you in every part of my life, but you have to understand that if you leave, then everything I care about will be affected. If there's a significant chance of that happening, then…it's better than we don't…"

"I don't want that any more than you do," Paige assured him, finally feeling steady enough on her feet to cross around the desk and close the distance between them. He turned to the side to face her, his eyes trailing her as she approached. "I love you, Walter. And I didn't plan for that to happen. Which means all the things you think are going to drive me away are the same things that made me love you. The only way you'll lose me is if you keep acting like you don't feel anything."

Paige could still see the uncertainty in his eyes, and knew that he wanted to believe her. But they'd each been rejected enough to understand that only time would prove they were both going to stick around. "I'm sure," she said again, leaning closer to him until she could feel the heat from his skin. Her fingers snaked around his arms, pulling his body against her. She could feel his heart racing, or maybe it was hers—the lines weren't so clear anymore.

Walter took his cue and tangled one hand in her hair, tilting her head up and capturing her lips. The focus and intensity he poured into the kiss shouldn't have surprised her, but she was glad his other arm was supporting her waist because Paige wasn't all that confident in her ability to stand.

This was going to be messy. But it felt real in a way that very few things in her life ever had.

Everything was about to change.


End file.
